Feasting in Festive Style

On Wednesday of this week,  Restoran Tasik Limbongan's managing partners got together to celebrate the leasing of their Cafe-Bistro styled restaurant to an entrepreneur in Johor. In celebrating the coming together of these two separate entities a simple makan for the two parties was conducted with yours truly and family invited to record the cementing of the deal for posterity.

With all his immediate family members and grandchildren present,  my friend, Tn Hj Moidu and his partners got together in the happy spirit of conviviality and joy by sitting and enjoying a well deserved meal together.

A very progressive  individual, Moidu has been my constant supporter for many years now much to his wife's consternation as not only is he many years my elder, he is also a Kerala Muslim and much respected leader within his community; whereas I am ...me.

Both Moidu and I seem to enjoy a fellowship that transcend age and religion which is what melaka and malaysia is all about , if you were to ask me... as it allows people of differing age, race and culture to participate and respectfully enjoy each other's companion ship without ulterior motives.

Rojak ala Mamak 

Michelle and mummy as usual, enjoyed the food and festive dinner spirits, but not as much as they enjoyed the food, of course !

Murtabak Ayam- large enough for 5 persons !

Uttapam with Yellow Dhal Curry side dish

Basmati Rice Nasi Minyak 

Tandoor styled chicken in sauce

The Host - Tn Hj Moidu and his partners

Kari Kerbau, supposedly very tasty !

A truly enjoyable and eventful evening was made better with the kind hospitality and friendship showered on me and my family by Moidu and company. The highlight of which was a spectacular tea that was made specially for us to enjoy. Taking a sip of the minty brew, it blew my mind away for it's piquant clarity and sensual taste that kept you sipping till the last drop ! (The secret was in the powdered Kayu Manis that they used) .

Moidu 's place is located in Pantai Limbongan ,  and although this is one of his many restaurants, he's other places being in Rembau and KL, he never forgets to invite me and my family to his numerous get together's whenever he's in town...which is not often given his globe trotting habits !

June Observations

The recently completed month has been a slow but tranquil month for most of us living here in the House of Gunabalan as we go through certain calm before the storm situation with regards to the quiet financial market here in Malaysia and Melaka.

I've recently assisted in the conclusion of the M.I.E.C which was an attempt to elicit ground level discontent amongst Malacca based Indians on their current grouses with economic assistance offered by our government and how many Malaysian Indians in Malacca actually received and/ or are aware of them.

On that side note, it was interesting to note what the latest political groundswell of feeling for the ruling government is, here in Malacca when we invited the Chief Minister of Melaka to officiate the closing of the Economic Convention and all he could say during his rather insipid, rambling speech was how the Indians in Melaka were now very well off and how grateful they should be compared to their fore fathers . 

He managed to insert somewhere in his speech that if the voting public was not careful, the next election could produce another May 13 incident!

The fear he wanted to instill in his scare mongering speech was a tactic that was all too real in his mind and for me that was indicative of the current feelings the citizenry has impressed unto the ruling party. The next few months leading to the elections would indeed be mighty interesting to note. When the ruling party is frightened and needs your vote, many opportunities can be made by right thinking communities.

These past few weeks there is also a rumbling discontent with many citizens on the way the Malaysian government is handling its latest opposition inspired demand for more electoral freedom and the supposed racial inequalities of the past 53 years ........which stems more out of perception than real maltreatment (although that too does exist -as there is no smoke without fire); but to be fair …at Federal level it is obvious that the Ruling Government is taking care of  their business end in- so- far as Indian diasporas needs are concerned, which we can see through the various Atom, Amanah Ikhtiar, Tekun Tukar programs that cover retail and services sector SME’s needs, but the biggest hurdle this government has is that the way these information and assistance trickles down to the people in need the most as the current view is that the ruling government is  at best N.A.T.O (No action Talk only).

As I’ve said earlier, that may not necessarily be true but sadly is the perception on the ground due to the ineffective administrative support & legacy based machineries the government and race based political parties’ uses to communicate with the masses. 

Bear in mind, the core issue is that people really are lacking financial knowledge and support.  With many of them holding two jobs, daily schedules and children costs on their mind, work deadlines and other constant money worries… updating themselves with financial and business knowledge is the furthest from their daily worries.

It is evident the current low wage, high inflation Malaysian economy is putting an extraordinary amount of financial stress on many young families with 2 or more kids. 

For many middle income wage earners, both urban and sub -urban, "flat broke" has become a permanent condition.  Today, it wouldn't be farfetched for me to say over half of all middle class Melaka families of all races live paycheck to paycheck.

High food prices is rampantly transforming the middle class to the lower middle class as everywhere from pasar malams through hypermarkets, our daily staples are increasing in price in tandem with global price volatility with the Malaysian ringgit buying lesser and lesser as the years go by. 

And those families that do actually have jobs that pay well are finding that their wages are rising much more slowly than the actual cost of living. The financial condition of average middle class families continues to decline and this is showing up in all of the recent surveys. 

Through AKPK (Bank Negara’s financial assistance programme)  we also learn that bankruptcies due to car mortgages and credit card debts are imposingly high on certain demographic sections of our society.

Everywhere we turn in the streets, at the night markets, while waiting in payment queues, we seem to hear and see people indulge in street talk of the impending Doom and Gloom (Politically & Financially) that has yet to be felt officially here in Melaka but nonetheless is evident in the western world and european states. 

Right now, speaking as a Malaysian Indian in Melaka, I can attest that more Malaysian Indians feel polarized and ostracized by society at large than at any other point since1970 and many young families in the urban jungles are flat broke and highly indebted.

These poor souls have lost hope of ever achieving a better life style for themselves. They are mostly just living zombies, worrying more about how to pay off their subsistence living costs & debts rather than planning, educating or saving for a better tomorrow - for themselves and their children. 

Many individual Indians are disenchanted with the status quo and their elected leaders inert disability to provide a better tomorrow for them and their families, due in parts to the lack of  leadership direction, viable economic opportunities and future living prospects under the ingrained current political climate of racial discrimination and race based politics of this country. 

Until this particular Indian dilemma changes, the frustration level amongst these down trodden Indian youths and their parents in this country is going to continue to grow, fester and eventually eat at this country as a cancerous cell.

Weekend Bash in Melaka.

The best & worst of times and the melodrama of the times we live in continues on in the daily internet news and the local daily front pages as we sit carefree for breakfast this cloudy, haze infused Sunday whilst sipping our favorite beverage over a hot steaming plate of chicken curry accompanying the ubiquitous Roti Canai or Prata as our southern neighbors call it. For millions of Malaysians this is their morning break,-fast and easy and truly heralded as a unity food enjoyed by all common races here.

Across the world though, happening almost so far away that it remains incognito to most of my immediate neighbors and friends, are daily stories of riots on the streets of Libya, Greece, Italy, Syria, Egypt coming out of Financial Sovereign Debt problem that is making the people there suspect where and when their next breakfast will be .......keeping the Middle East population in tattered flames of mutinous apprehension.

North Africa, Middle East and the Mediterranean southern part of Europe are all facing intense pressure by the war hawks over control of her strategic trade routes for oil and rare earth resources, under the name of freedom and democracy.

The worries  and troubles of the these people so far away is crucial, in my eyes to Malaysian business and overall well being simply because that globally, trade will be affected by whatever ails our consumers…. Malaysian businesses mainly being a commodity based, export nation of manufacturers.

With 2 year German T- Bonds returning a 1.5% interest and US  Treasury Bonds sold  ridiculously for under 1.5 %, clearly the super rich individuals overseas know something we do not about the future of  world monetary policies as everybody buying the billions of T-Bonds wants to park their money where it is presumably safer to safeguard their money rather than earn interest out of their money for fear of total loss due to sovereign debt default.

By far the greatest threat to our continued well being today is the threat of World War 3 starting in the Middle East with Israel gunning to start a war in Iran.

With Russia and China through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) drawing the proverbial line in the sand that the Israeli’s and their allies the United States should not cross in Syria and Iran, (almost daring them to be crossed), it is a matter of time indeed before the first frail attempt to mediate and avert a much needed war (for the west) is abandoned and the business of war started.

Washington has encircled Russia with military bases and has begun the encirclement of China. Washington has announced that the bulk of its naval forces will be shifted to the Pacific over the next few years, and Washington is working to re-establish its naval base in the Philippines, construct a new one on a South Korean island, acquire a naval base in Viet Nam, and air and troop bases elsewhere in Asia.

In Thailand Washington is attempting to purchase with the usual bribes an air base used in the Vietnam war. There is opposition as the country does not wish to be drawn into Washington’s orchestrated conflict with China. Downplaying the real reason for the airbase, Washington, according to Thai newspapers, told the Thai government that the base was needed for “humanitarian missions.” This didn’t fly, so Washington had NASA ask for the air base in order to conduct “weather experiments.” Whether this ruse is sufficient cover remains to be seen

The total victory of the Allies over the Axis in 1945 ended the previous conflict. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world.  Today, with Philippines used as a proxy  in establishing  American military bases and Singapore and Australia relying on USA as a final backstop against perceived China moves to claim the South China Seas resources, we see war games repeating itself in the south pacific. It would not be long before their reach into the Malacca Straits is evident (maybe under the ruse of protection  for shipping against piracy?). 

In World War 2 the real flare that started the whole fiasco in Europe was the Prussian Wars in 1925 resulting in Germany attacking Poland in 1939. At that time Japan was already at war with China since 1937. Basically it was all about instigating the control for the natural resources and trade of the New Worlds.

Today we have the same story happening all over again with proxy nations agitating for the real puppet masters need to control over natural resources. 

It would be great if we had real disclosure from the two main protagonists, though. It would be nice if Iran would let us know exactly what it was enriching all that uranium for.  It would also be great if Israel lets us know once and for all if it does have nuclear weapons, and if so how many.

If, as a nation, you’re going to launch strikes against another nation to stop them having nukes, it’s only reasonable for everyone to know if you already have nukes of your own in the chamber.

Nuclear weapons are terrifying things and they are terrifying whoever has them, whether they are being used or not. 

If you've read the Indian cultural and religious doctrine magnum opus The Mahabharata, it would be evident the type of destruction these nukes can do, as human folly is doomed to be repeated, evident by the bones of the recently unearthed victims that are still irradiated today 4000 years later!

So an inventory of some sort would be nice. It would also be great if there were an equally vigorous multinational investigation into whoever was blowing up those Iranian nuclear scientists in 2010.

Because they are an important part of this case too, as it is part of a long standing feud between these opposing parties to control the fearsome nuclear power.

In the mean time, locally we have here our jaguh kampungs deliberating over cups of cold tea, which sex scandal, money politics / corruptible issue will bring down whom within the next few months and why their favorite party deserves to win.

Coming back to Melaka, as I gaze outside my windows, the dense almost shimmering early afternoon heat and hazy, lazy, wayward wind blows the Indonesian caused Haze…. plaques us as an annual blight these days and no one seems to care enough to bother about it.

The Air Pollution Index is hitting 102-105 in certain areas in Lembah Klang which is a land locked area 150 KM away from Melaka so i guesstimate Melaka should be suffering the same if not worse since we are closer to the easterly winds coming out of Indonesia where the open burning and deforestation for palm tree estates start these smog.

They say some of these estates actually belong to Malaysian conglomerates and that is why the culprits are allowed to get away with the open burning but then what the true story is, is anyone's guess.

Moving on to some good news, in recent days, word has reached me that our (MTA's) support to the plan of making Melaka more cosmopolitan is beginning to bear fruit with Macau starting the first Friendship House in Bukit Pringgit and Cuba following suit. This is good for Melaka.

In tandem with that,our local tourism promotional body (BPP) has invited me again for the 3rd time to participate in the Bi Annual Cleanliness and Green Technology Implementation Audit for the local government bodies such as parks,stadiums and museums that deal with front line service and tourists.

  

This honorary audit position allows me to streamline my personal ideas for the implementation of a higher standard of safety, security and cleanliness for the public and tourists that use these facilities, in line with our state's Green Technology goals.

Chandra, my second son for the first time followed me and participated in this audit much to my delight. The apple clearly does not fall far from the tree as the ladies in our audit sessions were enamored with him enough to flirt with him even though this is the first time they've met him!

Later on a fine Thursday afternoon, my old class mate Jega who's a local business man running his own sundry shop in Alai called up urgently asking to meet up and we made plans to catch up over a few beers in the club. Apparently he's been calling me repeatedly these past few days but because I did not bother to check with my phone, I've been missing his recent calls.

He wanted some advice on a crucial business transaction matter that has gone wrong and didn't know where to turn for advise. Listening to him, i realized that the effects of FEAR and Monetary Risk Contagion Effect are starting to be felt by our locals and deals are turning sour with the local small time business men as they start to suffer the slow but sure consequences of a lagging and fear of risk market due to tightening liquidity that is beginning to envelope Malaysia and Melaka.

After listening and advising Jega on the possible actions he can take and the departments available in our local government that can help him, we called it a night with a few games of snooker and darts. The guy was clearly happy to have an evening out with me as I believe his current troubles had caused him sleepless nights recently and this outing with me gives him a good time to de-stress and get his thoughts in line.

On Friday morning however, michelle awakens me to remind me of our planned dinner party for our friends over at SFA & ToastMasters which we were hosting at home. Tonight. 

With all the reminding, calling for RSVP; prep work to get the house ready  for our guests to be satiated and comfortable, it was a quite harried few hours but luckily having conducted many of such get together's we were ready for them all by 5pm !

The evening went by quite fast for me and the SFA group went back quite early - by 9.00pm; ( having started at 7.00pm) but the rest stayed back till the wee hours as usual for more banter and fun.

We even had Thillai Nathan aka Mohd.Ashraf driving all the way from Perak after work to join in on the camaraderie and our long lost buddy Yeo Khian Huat popping in for visit as well !

All in all, the wife and I had a good time meeting up with our friends and enjoying their company . Blessed are the many attributes of the Good Lord in allowing us the care and joy to be shared with one and all in this wonderful country given the troubles we see happening elsewhere.

Cheers !

Unburden Yourself